In keeping with the city's reputation as the country's IT hub, the BBMP has de cided to leverage technology to cut through the red tape and ease the procedure for getting building plan approvals. Citizens will soon be able to get their building plans approved online, and will also be spared the hassle of running from pillar to post to seek clarifications, with executive engineers at the division level being authorised to approve the plans. The authority to approve the plans hitherto rested with zonal town planning officers.

Further, the E-khatha system announced in the BBMP budget on Saturday will enable citizens to upload the required documents, and get their khatas online. Property tax collection is set to be streamlined with the aid of the geographic information system (GIS), being developed by the BBMP, in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said MK Gunashekar, chairman of the BBMP standing committee (finance and taxation). "We have identified nearly 19 lakh properties using spatial mapping. All properties within BBMP limits will be assigned a unique digital identification number soon," Gunashekar added.

A digital survey of malls, tech parks and other commercial establishments will be undertaken to ensure ac curate evaluation of property tax. It's been found that many such establishments under value the tax amount under the self-assessment scheme.

To make services avail able easily citizens, BBMP owned buildings in every ward will be entrusted to the e-governance department, and Bangalore One Centres will be es tablished in the same.

The budget also envisaged a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Act to ensure effective administration of the city. Other states have such city-specific acts.